Monday, August 23, 2010

Needing a trim

Once again, I have cut my hair off. Shorter this time than ever before. It is really quite difficult to do one's own head, especially if one has only one mirror. One cannot get the back of the head with any sort of surety, and has to pretty much cut away blindly and hope for the best. Looks pretty good, though, at least as far as tidiness goes. I'm not really sure how becoming it is.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

To lunch or not to lunch!

Me, oh, my! What a morning! Today is Wednesday, and I do have a luncheon date with my dear friend Jill. My boss knows about this, cuz I told him, and because I called him an hour or so ago to remind him. Left a message on his cell phone.

However, the morning rolled swiftly by, and it got closer and closer to noon, and no sign of him. That's why I called to remind him. And then, right at noon -- well, five minutes to -- the maintenance men showed up and began taking the front door off its hinges. I asked them if they could wait and do this later, since I would be leaving the office, and if Bossman did not show up, I was thinking I needed to lock the front door. But no, they explained to me why they had to do right now this very minute, which, when disentangled and translated, amounted to, "Because we are here," so then I had to think. Called Jill's cell phone -- left her a message. Then I got in my car and drove over to McMenamin's, planning to spring upon Jill when she arrived and take our lunch back to the office. I walked in, glanced quickly around. No Jill. I sat down tentatively in a booth. And a waittress came over to me.

"Are you waiting for Jill?" she asked.

"Yes, I am!"

"Well, she's going to be late!"

ARG!!!

Well, in any case, I ordered a lunch to go, and left a message for them to give Jill, and returned to my office. And now here I sit and make prints!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Being generally picky

I would like to ponder something, and I'd like to do it aloud (sort of) and so you must listen (read).

My son Joe just got his GED, as we all know. I am very, very happy about this, and very proud of him, in spite of the simplicity of it and the requirement of it. I know it was difficult for him to understand the necessity, and when he finally did scew his courage to the sticking point, I was very pleased with him. And I've been bragging on him like anything, to everybody. I acknowledge all of this!

HOWEVER. Nameless Agent just overheard a conversation I was having with a friend of mine, and mentioned it to me in a congratulatory way, (nice of him) and then asked, "Did he get a reward?"

I asked, stupidly, "Who?"

"Your son," he said. "Didn't you give him a reward for getting his GED?"

Well, now, wait a minute. This strikes me as being similar to the whole only-kids-who-lie-require-congratulations-for-not-lying thing. I have been giving Joe a great deal of encouragement and praise and applause, and I did, in fact, buy him a small present. But "reward" -- with, on the one hand, its implications of heroism, and on the other, its implications of a doggy treat for a dog being trained or a child being weaned away from bad behavior -- I don't know. Do I think a child should get a reward for doing the required thing? I would, of course, buy a present for a student who graduated -- but that isn't a reward for graduating, it's a celebration of their graduation. And that's different. Isn't it? Or is it?

Perhaps I am merely being semantical and didactic and generally picky.